Gotta be some trades

--Pacers want to get rid of Tinsley, but the Nuggets' deal either fell through or never was.

--Bulls have too many players in back court.

--Heat are over the luxury tax threshhold after signing Livingston...have to cut down. Daquean Cook and Dorrell Wright are candidates for trades to bring back less salary. Cook makes $1.273 million and Wright $2.6 million.

--Knicks are desparate to get rid of Randolph or Curry. Then, there's Marbury.

There are other teams no doubt. Nets, of course, have 16 players under contract including KVH and want to get down to 14.

Twelve teams are over the $71.15 million luxury tax; one team (Charlotte) is under the salary cap and in case you havent been paying attention, things are bad economically.

Nets are at $61.18 million, putting them almost $10 million under the luxury tax threshhold (not counting KVH's $3.75 million--no buyout--deal.) They have some flexibility.

I would love to help Miami.

 

I always liked him...drafted too young, played on too good of a team. He may have had his head up his azz, but he is now 6'10 1/2", according to reports from last year.

The one big downer: he is a good friend of Marcus Williams and Hassan Adams.

 

It's pretty clear from the things we're hearing out of camp and from Dave D's pieces today that Sean is no longer on the block unless it's to bring back a bona fide star. IMO that means Boone becomes the only available roster player that another team might actually want.

He and Swift start to make sense for a team needing bigs that can offer a moderately priced rotation player. Otherwise, it seems the Nets are only going to be able to get something by combining one of Swift, Van Horn's contract, or Hassell with a pick.

Notwithstanding that Frank said Sean and Swift "dominated" defensively today, I don't know how they can risk keeping Swift. He's in a contract year and will likely, according to those who've followed him more closely than I, be a complainer and bad team influence if he doesn't get the minutes he needs to try and improve his free agency value for next year. Combining him with Ager and a 2nd round pick for an overpriced but functional vet with one year remaining makes sense to me. Either that or just flat out cut him and hope someone claims him off waivers.

 

It's been said before, but talk about an ill-timed trade of Collins last year. This would have been the year where his defensive tutelage of the bigs and veteran professionalism would have been great assets to the team. Nets should try to trade Swift for him again with other minor parts as needed to make the deal work.

 

Interestingly enough, from what I've been able to discern, none of that is true about Swift at all. He's just really, really quiet and introspective, to the point that no one is really sure that he is giving full effort or not. As far as I can tell, other than the one incident last year, he is not really a complainer. He just needs to be in the right situation--including having the right coaches and teammates to prod and encourage him--to be productive on a consistent basis. I have been getting the feeling that mentally he is a lot like Boone in that regard, and that he just gets down on himself and lets his frustrations and disappointments build inside him until he bursts. He might not have the mindset to be a productive player, but that doesn't automatically peg him as a malcontent.

But don't forget Hassell. He's a guy that they don't need, as well. We haven't heard much about him this preseason, have we?

 

Just to add, it seems to me that a guy like Swift is the type of player that would really benefit from being on a team where the leader is an introspective (but inclusive) nice guy like Vince Carter, instead of an asshole that rips into his teammates for making mistakes. can't wait until LeBoor comes to town. Yay.

 

Swift is starting his 9th season, and still hasn't learned the fundamentals of the game, plus he is bigman #7 in the Nets rotation.

Hassell is a situational player that contrributed on occasion last season, and would expect the same from this season. And Nets are not that deep at the SF spot.

 

(1) All I'm saying is that Swift is not a malcontent. I don't expect anything from him. He is what he is.

(2) Depends on how comfortable the Nets are at playing CDR and some of the nominal PFs (such as Najera, Yi, and Ryan Anderson) at SF.

 

That's a refreshing perspective, and I certainly hope it's true. (I profess to having no knowledge whatsoever of his past offcourt/relational history, only the representations here that he was a malcontent elsewhere.) As long as he's professional and won't add a negative vibe to the team no matter what his playing time, I have no problem with him remaining. He's foul and injury insurance and bench insurance should the Nets decide to move a big with other assets for a quality player.

 

Well, I'm guessing things will really start rolling with trades/moves after our Euro trip. Should be interesting starting around the 13th or so.

 

hey maybe we can trade for ben gordon since he signed the 1 year / 6 and change deal ^^

 

And if Gordon is traded, the team he goes to will not have Bird Rights to Ben.

 

Dorell Wright is a completely useless player.

 

If we somehow can get an elite player like LeBron, I could give a damn about scrubs like Swift.

 

Who needs a big man with an expiring contract?

Here's a list...

--the Nuggets who may have to use Birdman to back up Nene. Won't work. They're trying to get Steven Hunter!!

--the Heat who are playing Mark Blount and Jaamal Maglore.

--the Thunder who have a lot of injured big men or big men who suck. Nick Collison is their starting center...or is it Johan Petro or Robert Swift?

--the Nets.

 

The Nuggets already have Steven Hunter.